Calendar: May 2014

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post last updated: 18th May

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Garden update

You’ve been wondering … I know … how my roses are. How lovely you are.

I am pleased to report that my newest roses, from my brother for my ..ahem.. recent significant birthday, are in bloom.

roses 27Apr14

Happy Sunday!

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Update (28th April): and look at this bloom just a day later … n’aw

rose 28Apr14

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moving on collective @ Milan Design Week

A little while ago I supported the kickstarter campaign to get Moving On Collective to the Milan Design Week. They made their fundraising target and I’ve only just remembered to check their site to see what they got up to.

Their happening was titled ‘Ceci n’est pas un bijou‘ … ‘This is not a jewel’.

Event media: “When form follows FUNCTION, there is no argument in the design of the object. But what if the function of the object is ambiguous? And what if the signal it wants to send is absorbed into its esthetics?

These are not just pieces of adornment.
Nor can they be considered fine art pieces.
Instead they are fluctuating between art and design.

Contemporary jewellery and objects are so concentrated with narrative qualities that the functionality of the pieces is often ambiguous and considered unimportant.

When is an object functional?

Objects of personal value represent our sense of self, how we think, who we are, how we want to be perceived and finally how others perceive us.

Art jewellery stretches beyond logic, beyond utility and beyond materiality.

Moving On challenges the traditional definitions of adornment by pushing its functionality, context, wearability, materiality and presentation.”

Their display construct was a giant cardboard chain, on which their jewels were displayed. Fantastic.

installation image; used with explicit permission from Moving On Collective

Without seeing it in person, it’s hard to talk much more about it – but I really wanted to share with you that the jewellery community is a strong one and that amazing things can happen with the support of others.

I look forward to seeing what they’re up to next.

Favourite artworks

During a conversation a friend mentioned their favourite artwork. I didn’t have a reply – I couldn’t call to mind my favourite artworks. How amazing. For someone who spends so much time thinking about art, it surprised me.

Therefore I set myself the task of thinking through artworks and considering which I would possibly identify as my favourites. I suspected that I wouldn’t have just one, or even five, or perhaps I’d only be able to identify artists and their periods and not individual pieces … but let’s see.

To make it a simpler exercise, I’ll start with paintings.
Expanding to other media will be for another day.

A few I admire greatly:

• The Arnolfini Portrait, Jan van Eyck, 1434
  in National Gallery, London
  

  via Wiki Commons

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• Primavera, Botticelli, c1482
  in the Uffizi, Florence
  

  via Wiki Commons

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• Portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni, Domenico Ghirlandaio 1489-90
  in El Museuo de Arte Thyssen-Bornemisza
  the inspiration for my piece for the ‘Lend me Your Ears‘ exhibition
  

  via Wiki Commons

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• Portrait of Henry VIII of England, Hans Holbein , the Youngerca. 1537
  in El Museuo de Arte Thyssen-Bornemisza
  the inspiration for a piece in my third year at uni
  

  via Wiki Commons

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• The Starry Night, Vincent van Gogh, 1889
  in Museum of Modern Art, New York
  

  via Wiki Commons

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• one of Monet’s Haystack series; the more pinkish ones; I cannot for the life of me find an image of the exact painting I love most, though the one below is similar
  Meules, milieu du jour, 1890-91
  in National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
  

  via Wiki Commons

  .

• Degas’s Ballet series; especially the more hurried ones, with bright blue accents
  such as Dancers in the Wings, 1900
  in St Louie Museum, USA
  

  via Wiki Commons

For someone who professes to be figurative-adverse, I was initially surprised by the portraits included in my list – but then again, they are all from that era I love most.

It’s a strange thing, but I suspect I don’t really have favourites – for I can see so much in so many artworks, and it depends a great deal on my mood and such ephemeral matters.

This topic requires much more thought.